5:00 pm – Twelve days ago, Garth Snow traded Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie to Ottawa for a late first round pick and Dean McAmmond. That night, we gave the trade a B.

When you consider 2009 first round picks were thrown around like manhole covers today, and that Campoli played the least amount of minutes of all the dmen on Ottawa last night, you could make the case two weeks later that the Ottawa trade is a B+ for the Islanders.

I thought Bill Guerin for Petr Prucha and a 3rd that could become a 2nd was as good a deal as the Islanders could ever make for their 38-year old, future UFA captain with a no-move clause. Over the weekend, I thought they might be able to squeeze a late second-round pick for Billy. Today, they traded him to Pittsburgh for a 5th that will likely become a 4th, maybe a 3rd (if the Pens win a round).

Twelve days ago, we gave the Islanders a B. Today, they didn’t make any good trades. They also didn’t make any bad or unnecessary trades.

For the period around the trade deadline, we’re giving the Islanders a B.

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4:15 pm – Garth Snow just completed his meeting with reporters from Newsday, the Daily News, Post and Point Blank. Summarizing…

He took Bill Guerin out of the game Saturday because he had a serious offer from another team just prior to the game. Snow called Guerin’s agent and they mutually agreed keeping Guerin out would be in both parties’ best interest. “The risk of injury was something we all wanted to avoid.”

Snow said he wasn’t disappointed in the return for Guerin and that he had no preconceived notion of what it would be. “I went in with the mindset I was going to get the best possible deal for the organization.” On Guerin: “He was a great leader for us.”

The GM refused to discuss deals that did not happen, or came close to happening. We tried to see if he had any frustration with a possible trade partner pulling the rug out on a Guerin deal. We asked if he was angered by any of his colleagues. Snow said no.

On whether he was disappointed he didn’t do more today, Snow said this was his first experience as a “seller” and added, “As a seller, you can’t make a trade for the sake of making a trade.”

To that end, Snow hinted that he could possibly cut new deals with some of his prospective free agents. (Our take: Doug Weight would seem to be a logical guess. Maybe Andy Hilbert, too).

The GM said he wasn’t looking to trade Brendan Witt. “Brendan is what the Islanders are looking to be – tough, plays with heart, selfless.”

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3:25 pm – It’s official. The store is closed. There will be no past-the-deadline Islanders trade announcements. I hope to one day be doing this when there’s a lot more action.

More than 1,000 Comments? Child’s play!

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2:59 pm – Jon Sim sent to Bridgeport. Nate Thompson activated.

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2:57 pm - Bill Guerin on the last few days: “It was a pretty painful process. We thought we had a deal done with another team a couple of days ago.”

Asked if he’ll be a leader in Pitt: “Best you can do is be yourself.”

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2:52 pm – Almost done. No signs of a last-second deal. Seems plans are starting to be made for Garth Snow media availability. Just like this trade deadline, I would not expect much.

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2:40 pm – Still don’t like my offer of Guerin for Prucha and a third that could become a second?

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2:10 pm - Hope I lowered your expectations enough. Guerin to Pitt for a 5th round pick. Becomes a 4 if the Pens make the playoffs, a 3 if they win a round and Billy plays half the games.

Site crashing routinely. It survived Sunday, but I guess this blockbuster put it over the top.

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1:58 – Bill Guerin to the Penguins. Done. Finally. Details on the way.

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1:34 pm – 41-year old Recchi and a 2nd round pick from TB to Boston for Lashoff – exactly the kind of trade many of the readers of this blog are dying for the Islanders to make.

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1:20 pm – Just about everyone reporting Bill Guerin trade is dead. We are not.

What trade are they talking about? Does that mean the Islanders aren’t even trying to trade him for the next 100 minutes?

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1:05 pm – Steve Montador going to Boston (for Nokie) probably eliminates a top trade partner for the Islanders for Radek Martinek, who would have been a perfect fit for the Bruins. Now it doesn’t look like the Islanders will get one of Scott Gordon’s boys from Providence.

Bill Guerin getting traded, any hour now. And if he isn’t, I hope my laptop goes on the Fritz.

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12:38 pm - Now that Miro Satan has cleared waivers, you have to wonder about the value of Bill Guerin. Make no mistake: Guerin is more respected around the game. But tough to picture his value soaring right now.

Suggestion for Islanders fans: pretend your team just traded Chris Campoli – just 16 minutes for Ottawa last night – for a first round pick. The deadline just got more exciting!

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12:05 pm - Three hours to go before a trade must be filed with the league. Now the clock really starts.

The Islanders will have one trade, maybe two. No blockbusters. Probably nothing even major.

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10:45 am, NVMC - In all my years announcing deals for the Islanders, I don’t recall ever announcing one on deadline day before noon.

While Ottawa and Columbus hooked up for one at 10:00 am today, you can believe it was agreed to late last night.

Separate from all that, here’s how a deal is finalized and announced.

1. Teams agree to deal.

2. Teams contact the NHL to register the trade and arrange for a league-moderated conference call.

3. In conference call, the NHL makes sure that all issues of the deal are resolved – bonuses, agreement on conditional draft picks, etc.

4. Once deal is blessed by the league, the players in the deal are told.

5. Teams agree on a time when deal will be “officially” announced. For example, the Islanders and Senators agreed on a 4:30 pm announce time for the Chris Campoli deal.

For the last few years, I recommended to Islanders general managers that around the deadline they tell their players about a pending deal before it goes to the league conference call. Because once it goes to the conference call, TSN and Sportsnet will announce it.

Sure enough, Pascal Leclaire learned this morning he was traded not by the franchise he played hard for, but by TSN.

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8:30 am - Today it comes full circle for us in Room 6, across the hall from the Islanders locker room at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Two years ago on deadline day in Room 6, I saw the look on Greg Logan’s face when informed the Islanders had acquired Ryan Smyth. A year ago, my staff hosted Islanders and Penguins reporters to a day of snacks, TSN and wireless in Room 6. Pittsburgh picked up Marian Hossa.

Now I’m back in Room 6 – this time on the other side. All day long, we’ll join the Commentary with the readers of Point Blank.

To be candid, now that it’s deadline day, count on the two Canadian sports networks to break 90% of the deals. Most if not all the time, trade news will be posted by a reader in Comments before I get it. That’s how it works on Shopping Day, when the news of completed trades is often delivered by TSN and Sportsnet before the players even find out.

Guerin for a 3rd, maybe a 2nd.

Please don’t hog the Commentary, is all I ask. I want every reader to feel they can get involved. Dominate the space, and you know what. Thanks…CB